1958-1961

RG 199 (released 1958)

Pre-dating the earliest Hancock release by 2 years, this LP was released in the UK in 1958 having previously been released in South Africa. The best description can be found in the sleeve note: ‘Moira Lister, the beautiful and talented South African actress whose performances in ‘The Love of Four Colonels’ and other productions in the West End and on Broadway have won her an ever-widening public, first introduced her programme ‘People In Love” on Television. Subsequently she assembled her material into a one-woman show, and toured South Africa and Australia with great success. The four most popular stories from the stage show are reproduced on this record.’ The stories are ‘Her Son’ by Jose d’Almeida, ‘The Lady of Gollerus’ by Thomas Crocker, The Chairmender by ‘Guy de Maupassant and finally ‘The Tell-tale Heart’ by Edgar Allan Poe.

Pye NPL18045 Issued April 1960

This is Hancock was first released in April 1960 just four months after the last Hancock’s Half Hour radio episode had been broadcast.  The release contains edited (but virtually complete) radio episodes The Wild Man of the Woods and A Sunday Afternoon at Home. Released on the Pye Plum label, early versions were on the Pye Nixa label. This later changed to the later Pye plum coloured label with the final versions appearing with a cherry coloured label.   A fantastic first release of Hancock’s Half Hour with briliant sleeve notes by Galton & Simpson.

Astor PLP1039 Issued 1960

This version of This Is Hancock was manufactured and released in Australia where there was a significant fan base for Hancock’s Half Hour. The blue stripes on the sleeve are a much brighter blue than on the UK release and the sticker on the front reads Astor Goldengroove Series. Content on this album is identical to the UK releases.

Astral Label Issued 1960

This version of This is Hancock was manufactured and issued in Canada, where there was also a significant fan base.  Content for this release was the same as the UK version.

Pye NPL 18054 Issued November 1960

Released in 1960 as a follow up to This Is Hancock, this release featured a series of extracts with specially recorded links featuring Tony. Side 1 featured The East Cheam Drama Festival, a 20 minute extract from the programme of the same name. The second extract on side 1 is a 9 minute extract entitled The Secret Life of Anthony Hancock. This ‘Test Pilot’ extract was from the programme The Diary and is probably the best known sequence from the Radio Half Hours owing to the number of times this extract was played on the Radio, especially during ‘Stewpot’s Choice’, a weekend radio programme in the 70’s. Side 2 features a 12 minute extract from The Publicity Photograph and a further 12 minute extract from The Threatening Letters. All of the extracts were heavily edited. The front sleeve features the same photo as on the main UK release of This Is Hancock and the jigsaw effect makes for an interesting cover. However, the reverse of the cover is interesting in that it contains a photo of all of the cast and underneath a numbered drawing intended to show who is who. Unfortunately, the names are all in the wrong place! Released on the Pye Plum label, early releases featured a dark plum label, which later changed to the almost pink label.

Astor PLP1110 Issued 1960

This version of Pieces of Hancock was manufactured and released in Australia. Both the front and reverse of this cover are identical to the UK release other than the sticker on the front, which reads Astor Goldengroove Series and the Astor logo in the bottom left hand corner. The early versions of this release featured a black and grey label.  Later versions featured an orange label. Content on this album is identical to the UK release.

Pye Canada Issued 1960

This version of Pieces of Hancock was manufactured and distributed in Canada on the Pye Red Label.  The content is identical to the UK releas

Plum Label NPL18068

The third Pye release featured a brand new recording of The Blood Donor and The Radio Ham, recorded before an invited audience. Released in 1961, these recordings have been released in more different versions than any other Hancock recordings and continue to be available on CD and tape today. This article will include only vinyl and cassette releases. This first UK release originally featured a plum coloured label but this changed to a pink label on later releases (pictured) The album was the first to feature a specially posed photograph, rather than featuring stills from the TV Series.

As part of the pre-production process for the creation of vinyl LPs, an acetate of the final disc is created.  This enables quality testing to be undertake.  The Tony Hancock Appreciation Society is very fortunate to have an acetate of the Hancock release and the centre label is illustrated here.

 NPL18068 or Stereo SPL18068

The Canadian version of this release featured an identical sleeve to the UK release other than the appearance of the wording Pye Astral and the record number on the front sleeve. The label on this release was red.

Release NPL18068

The New Zeland version of this release featured an identical sleeve to the UK release other than the appearance of the record number on the front sleeve. The label on this release was the tradional early plum label.

Pye Release PLP1092

You could easily mistake this release for something it isn’t! Other than the purple and white stripes, this looks like a different version of This Is Hancock but in fact it is the Australian version of the UK album Hancock and features The Blood Donor and The Radio Ham.  This first version was released on the Pye Australia Labe

Astor release version 1) PLP1092

The second version of this Australian release of Hancock was on the Astor label. As with the previous release, this LP features the studio re-recordings of The Blood Donor and The Radio Ham. The label states that this is a Pye Records UK Recording and the sticker on the front of the cover reads: ‘Gold Star Series’.

Astor release version 2) PLP1092

The third version of the release of Hancock Volume 2 features a pink stripped front cover instead of the previous purple stripes whilst the label no longer states that this is a Pye Records UK Recording.  The content on this release is identical to the previous releases and features the studio re-recordings of The Blood Donor and The Radio Ham.